Rise of the Phoenix
by Emerald Kigo
Summary: After a brutal attack and a fight with the senshi Usagi leaves the group. A new student to Jubaan means a new friend to Usagi and add the early awakening of the Outers will Usagi ever reconcile with her friends or does she even need them any longer?
1. Chapter 1

**Rise of the Phoenix**

Don't own Ranma 1/2 or Sailor Moon, they're owned by whoever.

I will be using the Japanese names for Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon timeline is early during Sailor Moon R but the scouts are 16 years old. As for Ranma, this will take place shortly after the series ending. Now, on with the show.

She didn't want to move, didn't want to answer her communicator as she laid in a crumpled heap in the alley as the dark shadow finally lumbered off into the night as if he melted into shadows. Her right eye sore and partly swollen shut from a brutal strike from the earlier fight which she lost. Her bottom lip split open and bleeding a bit as well as several more scrapes and bruises littering her body, several painful wet feeling ones on her back where she was pinned on the ground just minutes earlier.

Trying to readjust her torn blouse to give her some kind of modesty she fought the pain and sat up pulling out the beeping device that had been going on and off for the last half hour. She wanted nothing more than to throw it across the alley into the stone wall in anger at everything. How could someone do this to her, she protected the city as Sailor Moon, granted no one but her closest friends knew that, but how could one of those people she protected do this? How could she let it happen, she was Sailor Moon and should have been able to fight the man off but it happened to fast to transform and she knew deep down that she had no way to fight him off untransformed but at the moment she didn't care about that little bit of logic.

Growling a little as her sobs started to quiet down she hit the button on the watch like device to connect with whoever it was that was calling. Should she honestly care though? Her friends may be in trouble but was they there for her to help her at all lately? They all lavished the little spore with attention and talked down to the blonde after Mamorou dumped her. They obviously didn't give a damn about her so why should she care about them? Against all her anger and pain she still knew why, she couldn't turn her back on anyone who was in trouble, it just wasn't in her.

"Where have you been meatball head?" The angry voice of Rei demanded to know over the small devices speaker, the screen and camera damaged from her fall earlier. She would have to get Luna to fix that later. "You know what, it doesn't matter, just get your lazy ass over to the park. There is a droid attacking everyone here!"

Rei didn't even bother to wait for Usagi's reply as the signal was cut angering the blonde a bit. The shrine maiden was getting worse and worse lately bossing the blonde around, acting as if she was in charge of everything. Usagi was the moon princess so where the hell did the black haired girl get off pulling stunts like this? And worse yet, no one has even bothered to back Usagi up or take her side. She was getting sick of it, sick of all of it.

Getting to her feet, swaying a bit as the pain tried to keep her from moving to much Usagi yanked the broach off her ruined blouse and thrust it in the air over her head calling out, "MOON CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!"

Usagi sighed in relief as the power washed out from the crystal on through her body giving her renewed strength and temporarily washing most of the pain away even if the injuries were still there under her costume and disguise field. Unlike what many people thought though, the sailor disguise field worked on everyone including each other. They only reason they knew who each other really was wasn't because they could see through they field but because they knew each other and was there when they transformed.

Channeling her anger while knowing if she didn't she would easily be overwhelmed by her other emotions Usagi moved forward as soon as the transformation was over. It took very few seconds to jump to the roof and then roof hop across the city to the park where she could see flashed of light as she got closer. The current droid was actually pretty fast, staying ahead of the senshi's attacks but not noticing the new blonde's arrival as Usagi quietly touched down behind the silver and candy apple red droid, a cross between a woman and a hot rod.

"About time you got here!" Rei snarled, yelling at Usagi as the blonde was preparing her attack trying to surprise their enemy. Usagi was half way through charging her attack when the droid saw what she was doing. The creature wasted no time is blurring into action planting a painful fist into Usagi's gut causing her to fold over in pain over the things arm before being launched several feet into the air and crashing down hard on the ground making her cry out in pain.

"I will only say this one more time," Bertie says as she appears floating over the group with her arms crossed under her breasts. "Give me the rabbit and you all will live. I'll even let you go on with your boring, insignificant lives."

"Never!" A male voice shouted just as Bertie disappeared again just in time for a rose to fly through where the dark moon sister was just moments earlier barely missing her. Everyone's attention was drawing to the tuxedo clad man balancing on top of one of the light poles.

"Tuxedo Mask!" Usagi called out after getting her breath back, relief flooding her as she stared up at who she believed was her soulmate.

"The city needs you Sailor Moon, it is time you grew up and take your responsibilities more seriously." Mamorou said in a monotone voice, coldness in his eyes. "If you wasn't playing games and answered your communicator earlier a lot less people would have gotten hurt."

"Wow, some boyfriend brat." Bertie said reappearing in the air, her voice partly amused butt even Usagi could sense the pity in the woman's tone of voice.

"Stay out of this!" Usagi snarled, tears leaking as she spun around as the droid was just inches away from her and rammed her scepter into the creatures gut. Without even saying a word Usagi took all of her pain and anger and channeled it into the scepter along with a large burst of magic. The droid let out a shriek of pain as magical energy tore through her and out her back before she turned to dust moments later.

"You know, maybe your right." Bertie said nervously, "I'll leave you to your lovers quarrel."

"Stop right there!" Minako demanded throwing her chain at the woman who just disappeared before the golden chain reached her.

"Where were you, Usagi?" Ami asked, her voice a little quiet but the blonde could still hear the accusing tone of voice the girl used which hurt more than anything Rei had ever said. Ami was always the one who while not really standing up for Usagi lately the blonde could always at least count on her not to start acting like Rei by verbally attacking before bothering to hear out an explanation.

"That's what I want to know!" Rei said storming over to the blonde and shoved her hard making her stumble back a few feet but was able to keep her footing. "God Usagi, you are so useless, you had the perfect chance to get he drop on that thing but instead you decided to play around! We could have been hurt!"

"What he hell? I was going to attack but..." Usagi said but was interrupted but Minako before she could get any farther.

"Usagi, stop making stupid excuses." Minako said tiredly, "I hate to say this but the penguin is right, you really need to grow up and take your responsibilities more seriously."

Usagi could only shake her head, tears starting to fall as she stepped backwards putting a few feet between herself and her so called friends. Looking over her shoulder she noticed that Mamoru was long gone but she really didn't expect anything else anymore.

"Usagi, we have this new enemy trying to get here hands on Chibi-Usa for whatever reason and all you do is cry about what is happening to you." Makota said as she rubbed her temples. "Girl, we love you but right now we can't stand you. We can't stand this selfish attitude of yours endangering others."

Selfish attitude? Usagi sacrificed so much, even started training harder and sometimes patrolling on her own just to take some of the pressure off the other girls and to become a better leader. She didn't tell anyone but if they cared they would have wondered why she has been even more tired lately or even complimented her on how much better she was getting at fighting. She was even sacrificing the relationship she had with her family as the tension between her mother and herself was growing more and more as they fought constantly about Usagi staying out at night.

How dare they accuse her of being selfish? She had every right to be hurt over Mamoru dumping her again and treating her the way he was. She had every right to mourn the loss of her love, the man she was supposed to be destined to be with. She had every right to try and be at least a little normal as more and more of her life was being taken away from her as everyone told her who she was and what she was supposed to do when the person the expected her to be died all those years ago with the fall of the Silver Millennium. Usagi was Usagi, not a long dead princess even if that girl was a small part of the blonde.

"Answer us Usagi!" Rei snapped, "And don't you dare start your whining!"

Didn't they care about what happened to her at all? What she suffered through this night?

"Usagi, answer us." Minako said, her voice growing tense.

"You know what?" Usagi asked, her voice a mixture of a laugh and a sob. "I've had enough of this. With friends like you all who needs enemies?"

"Would you care to repeat that?" Makota asked incredulously.

"Rei, you more than any can go to hell!" Usagi snapped shocking the four other girls enough that Usagi easily fled from the park and escaped the other girls. It didn't take her long to get to her street where she released the power keeping her in her Sailor Moon for leaving her once again as the scared, injured blonde girl whose pain quickly returned with the loss of the magic making her body more endurable.

Clutching her side where the droid had punched her and aggravated the bruise already there, Usagi limped up to her home and fished out her key to unlock the door and slipped inside locking it behind her. With a sigh of relief the girl started limping toward the stairs so she could go take a long hot bath to hopefully draw some of the soreness and pain away and hopefully wash of the dirt.

"And where have you been young lady?" Ikuko asked flipping on the lights drawing Usagi's attention. The older woman was leaning against the door frame to the kitchen glaring at the blonde until she got a good look then concern and worry washed over her face. "Oh my god Usagi, what happened to you?"

"Momma!" Usagi sobbed throwing herself in her mothers arms as she couldn't keep it together anymore. No mater who much they fought Usagi knew the older woman loved her and would always be there to protect the blonde.

RANMA-SM

Three months earlier...

Saffron watched as the high powered attack came straight for him ready to block it, in fact he already had a shield in place to block it. It was then that he took a closer look at he energy signature and gasped, there was no way he was seeing this. The power was mostly ki but there was some magic laced in with it, magic that not many of the phoenix could wield any longer as the clan's bond with the sun had been weakening more and more. It wasn't that fact though that caused the self proclaimed demi-god to react he way he did, no the reason that caused him to freeze and drop the shield in shock was that he recognized the power signature. It was the power signature of the person he thought was lost to him forever but bless the Queen's heart, she must have sent her soul to the future as well.

"I'm very proud of you my child." Saffron whispered to the wind as the attack hit shredding into him. He knew it would kill his current body but it was for the best that he was reborn again as his current form was unstable thanks to the necessity of having to mature to his full power way to early due to circumstances. It wasn't necessary now that he knew that his only child was still alive, Saffron had faith in his offspring and knew he could rest easily for now.

"Please save our clan my daughter." Saffron whispered as he slowly reverted back into an egg to be reborn again.

1 Week Ago...

"You can't be serious." Ranma said sitting at the table before his parents in the Tendo Dojo. This day had been the worse one yet since returning from Jusendo as Akane had actually said she hated him and wanted nothing to do with him. True she said that plenty of times but this time it didn't have any emotion to it like usual, she didn't say it out of being hurt or anger. No, this time her voice was so cold and serious, she had called him a worthless freak and broke the engagement and this time Ranma believed that she meant it for good.

Now sitting on the table in front of her was something she couldn't believe she would ever see. Looking up from it at her parents she couldn't read his mother's expression but his father's was dead serious and if the redhaired woman wasn't saying anything and the man wasn't in a corner blubbering in fear, then that meant that she agreed with what was before the teen which caused his heart to drop. This was the perfect end to the perfect day.

"Either you fulfill the honor of the Saotome family and marry Akane tomorrow or you will be declared ronin as the paper says." Genma said, crossing his arms and huffing arrogantly.

"Son, this is a matter of family honor." Nodoka said, her voice soft and unsure but Ranma really didn't notice the way she sounded as he was focusing on what was being said and the feeling of betrayal filling him.

"The schools must be joined." Genma said as he smiled in triumph. "Either you fulfill your duty or we have no son."

"But Akane broke the engagement..." Ranma said trying to protest but Genma stopped him before he could continue.

"The schools will be joined Ranma, now decide!" Genma demanded while glaring at Ranma.

"You know what old man?" Ranma said as he stood up and glared down at his parents. "I'm tired of all this crap anyways, I'll be more than happy to go ronin because then all the engagements and crap will be your problem."

"Y-You don't mean that." Genma said as all blood left his face.

"I...I think I do, Mr. Saotome." Ranma said as he turned and started to walk away. "As far as I'm concerned you both can piss off if this how you want it."

"R-Ranma!" Nodoka called out but it was too late as the pigtailed youth was out the door and over the wall surrounding the property roof hopping away.

Released on March 25, 2010


	2. Chapter 2

**Rise of the Phoenix**

For a disclaimer please refer to chapter one.

Now with less mistakes thanks to Russell Irvine who took his own time to fix them and send it back to me, thanks much!

It was utterly stupid, no, it was completely insane. Why the hell did she listened to that green haired psycho of a woman. Why had she agree to this!? She was the premier martial artist of her generation, the best of the best and she was in a school uniform on the way to her new school. She was on the way to her new school in a freaking GIRL'S UNIFORM!

5 Days Ago...

It had only been two days since he left the Tendo Dojo and Nerima after being declared ronin by her so called parents. He refused to stay in the town either because as soon as the others found out the fiancées would declared open season on the pigtailed youth and he didn't want to see either of them after what they did at the failed wedding. He was beyond upset with them, in fact he was beyond pissed at them as they could have killed his mother... the same mother who was a part of making him a ronin.

It hurt to even think about the woman, despite all of the craziness and the woman's attitude, he always believed she loved him and would stand by him. Apparently he had been dead wrong – just like he'd been with just about everything in his life.

Walking along the street, his hands in his pockets, he cursed himself again for just leaving when his parents... his ex-parents kicked him out of the clan. He had left so quickly that he hadn't even bothered collecting any of the meager belongings, not that they would be helping his stomach at the moment as it let out a loud growl at the display of cakes, cookies and other confections in the window of a bakery as the sweet delicious smell wafted through the air around him.

"Sounds like you could use a bite young man." A woman said startling Ranma as he had been drooling over a very yummy looking four tier cake.

"Who are you?" Ranma asked staying on guard as he looked up and down at he woman and seeing so much power just rolling off of her. In fact her very stance and every movement showed how graceful she was, though without wasting any movement or energy. She had long dark green hair and the most piercing red eyes that seemed to looking straight into Ranma's very soul. Her business suit was very formal but very flattering on her beautiful figure. The strangest part about the woman though was the feeling that she was very familiar somehow.

"I'm the new counselor at the school here in Juuban, my name is Setsuna Meiou." Setsuna said with a small smile. "You can call me Setsuna. I was about to have some lunch, won't you join me? My treat even."

"I guess." Ranma said blushing a bit as his stomach growled even louder at the mention of a possible meal.

"Great, there is a great cafe this way. It has the best sandwiches you'll find in Juuban I can assure you." Setsuna said turning and walking off, not bothering to make sure the pigtailed boy was following or not.

The cafe was actually pretty nice and cozy, with many tables out on the sidewalk which is where the two decided to sit. The short walk though made Ranma even more curious in the woman and cautious at the same time. She walked with such grace and the way she moved screamed high level martial artist which Ranma didn't want to deal with, he didn't need any more crazy challenges at the moment.

"Hi Setsuna, who is your cute friend?" A girl in a waitress uniform asked as she handed the two at the table a menu a piece.

"My name is Ranma." Ranma said smiling a little at the girl while accepting his menu.

"I'll have my usual and while Ranma looks over a menu go ahead and bring him one of each sandwich here." Setsuna said waving to a section on the menu.

"Th-There's like ten different sandwiches here." The waitress said a little in shock as she looked at Ranma.

"I'm sure he can handle it and put the bill and tip on my tab." Setsuna said with a soft smile to which the waitress bowed and hurried off to turn in the order.

"You didn't have to order me so much." Ranma said though in his mind he was salivating over the thought of the promised food. He was starving and his stomach wouldn't let him forget the fact and he wasn't about to steal to fix that problem.

"Nonsense Ranma, I wanted to, but I would like to ask you a few questions." Setsuna said smiling as the waitress brought a tea set and cups for both Ranma and Setsuna interrupting the two before anything else could be said.

"It will be about ten minutes for everything to be made." The waitress said a little nervously.

"It's no problem, Ranma and I have some things that need to be discussed anyways." Setsuna said while smiling at the girl before she hurried to another table that was waving her over. After pouring each of them tea Setsuna took a small sip while watching the nervous boy over the rim of her cup. After setting it back down she asked, "So Ranma, do you go to school around here. I don't recall seeing you at Juuban before."

"No, I...I won't be going to school now." Ranma said while giving a sad sigh before a cold pitcher of water landed on the new red-haired girl's head. Hanging her head with an embarrassed sigh she mumbled, "Damn it."

"I am so, so sorry." The waitress said, trying to wipe the water off the redhead's face and hair with a towel before stopping as she realized something. "Hey, weren't you a boy a minute ago?"

"Of course not dear, you must be exhausted to have mistaken Ranma here for a boy." Setsuna said with a bit of a mischievous smile.

"O-Of course, silly me." The waitress laughed nervously after she finished cleaning up and bowing to the two in apology before heading back off.

"Care to tell me what happened there?" Setsuna asked with an arched eyebrow watching the redhead shift nervously beneath her gaze.

"I guess..." Ranma grumbled, obviously irritated over what happed besides being embarrassed over what happened. Over the next few minutes Ranma managed to give a brief summary of Jusenkyo and was shocked to see Setsuna not to shaken by it.

"So cold water changes you into a girl and warm water changes you back?" Setsuna asked as the redhead nodded. She was going to continue but stopped upon seeing the waitress pushing a cart out loaded with food.

"Oh wow this looks great!" The redhead exclaimed happily, a little drool at the corner of her mouth.

"You should try their dinner meals, they're to die for." Setsuna said with a smirk before thanking the Waitress.

"If you need anything else don't hesitate to call." The waitress said before hurrying off with the now empty cart, the table now loaded with sandwiches, salads and drinks since each entry on the section of the menu Setsuna had indicated earlier was a full meal.

"I can imagine it must be hard at school not to mention your life." Setsuna said softly as Ranma wasted no time digging into the spread of food before her.

"You have no idea." Ranma grumbled between bites of food amusing Setsuna even if she found it a tad bit repulsive. Her demeanor seemed to grow sadder as pain filled the redhead's eyes. "I don't really have to worry about it no more anyways."

"Any more Ranma, not no more." Setsuna corrected taking a bite of her own chicken salad sandwich. She loved how this little cafe put grapes in the stuff, just a small simple thing made it taste so much better than it normally would. Too bad it wasn't dinner time, she was sure the redhead would just die from trying their lasagna. "And why would you not have to worry about it anymore?"

"Because my family kicked me out." Ranma sighed, unsure why she should even tell this stranger but then again why not since she was paying for lunch.

"Why would they kick you out? You seem like a pretty nice young man to me." Setsuna said as she smiled mentally to herself noting her choice of words got Ranma to smile a bit. From her studies of the martial artist the teen hated being called a girl in any form but it was more caused by the fact that deep down Genma's training and words did more damage than most realized. Ranma hated himself and even though a part of the pigtailed youth really did fight some of the more dangerous fights for honor and to protect those he cared about there was a small part that he wouldn't admit to himself that hoped he would die during one of those fights. A part of the teen truly hated himself, or more exactly herself ,and it was all due to both Genma's preaching of how women are weak, Nodoka's seppuku contract and the claims that the boy turned girl was a perverted freak only added to his issues with the curse. Setsuna wanted to help the child and hoped she could but the offer she was planning might also be just as bad if taken the wrong way.

"Because my fiancée didn't want anything to do with me so I refused to marry her by force, which is basically what my pops wanted me to do." Ranma sighed, putting her sandwich down. She had finished half of the sandwiches but the turn the conversation had taken was bothering Ranma more than she would like to admit.

"So they kicked you out of your family? No offense Ranma but your family sounds like a bunch of whack jobs." Setsuna said shaking her head in disgust.

"Is that your professional opinion?" Ranma asked picking the sandwich back up and stuffing it in her mouth, after all she didn't know when she would get food like this again anytime soon.

"Yeah, I'd have to say it is." Setsuna said, "Everyone deserves a family, not to mention an education. What would you say if I offered to add you to my family's scrolls?"

"What? Why would you do that?" Ranma asked.

"Well, I honestly have no living family." Setsuna said truthfully, relieved that while she wasn't going to tell the redhead everything thought she was going to tell the truth. "I would like to have someone who could be the heir to my families martial arts and maybe someone to be friends with, family with."

"So you would teach me your family's art?" Ranma asked in shock, "Just like that?"

"Well, there is one condition." Setsuna said smirking a bit.

"Great, I just knew it was too good to be true." Ranma groused a little angrily.

"The only condition I have is that you go to school and try your best." Setsuna said with a large smile as Ranma's jaw dropped in slight shock.

"You're shitting me, you want to basically adopt me and teach me your style and all you want is for me to go to school in return?" Ranma asked trying to decide if this woman was on the level.

"And of course be family." Setsuna said with a friendly smile. Of course she was out of practice on that but she managed it. "Of course with your water based curse and how it finds you I do have a proposition..."

Present...

Ranma was happily up for taking the offer to join the Meiou clan but the suggestions the woman made the redhead still found insane, even if there was a bit of logic behind them. Setsuna provided two sets of identification for Ranma, one for her guy side and one for her girl side. Her girl side would attend school and learn everything while her guy side would be registered as home schooled. While at school Ranma would have to remain as a girl with only the teachers knowing the truth to keep trouble down. Setsuna wanted Ranma to get used to her girl side, to learn that it was a part of her and not something to hate or be ashamed of.

Thankfully the girl time ended at the end of the school day as the masquerade would end and as soon as she could get home and out of the damned skirt she would be a he again and could go hang out around town or just laze about the house. There was even a dojo he could practice in and where every morning Setsuna would practice with him and show him some moves and every time Ranma did good on an exam the woman promised to show Ranma something really special as a reward.

In fact Setsuna had already shown Ranma a technique as proof of her words, starting Ranma in its basics. It was a new ki attack, but the way Setsuna described it the energy also came from something called mana. The concept was new to Ranma as well as the news of the side effect of emotion based ki attacks. Using emotion as the base of any attack supposedly caused the user to slowly become more and more unstable the more they used it – something which scared the hell out of Ranma if it was true.

The green haired woman was a psycho but Ranma grudgingly had to admit she was a very talented psycho who so far showed more kindness and care for the ten than her own family ever seemed to show.

Earlier that morning with Usagi...

It was still dark outside as the sun was just starting to rise but Usagi sat at her vanity staring into the mirror. Thankfully her mother took Chibi-Usa to sleep with her while knocking Kenji down to the couch which meant the younger girl wasn't there when the blonde awoke due to nightmares. She may not exactly like the spore but a part of her loved the child like she did all children.

She was still sore from not only what that bastard did to her last night but what she did to herself when she got a chance to take a bath. She had scrubbed herself raw trying to get the dirty feeling to wash away, she would still probably be scrubbing if not for her mother having come in to check on her and making her stop.

Ikuko was upset that Usagi refused to go to a hospital but the blonde just wanted to forget what happened, something which was proving harder said than done. Her eyes alone were red and puffy from crying in her bed half of the night but the invisible injuries were much worse while her visible injuries had mostly healed due to the silver crystal that always seemed to heal her while asleep. The problem was she didn't have much sleep so she was still very sore and stiff. She wasn't too sure how to even go about explaining the healing to her mother if the older woman pushed the subject.

She still felt so dirty though and she didn't understand why the man had chosen her. She had been sitting in the same spot for lord knows how long just staring at the image in the mirror. She used to think that she was okay looking if not pretty but the way Mamoru had dumped her had made her seriously doubt she was pretty at all. Why else would Mamoru dump her after all? Okay, she admitted that she wasn't the smartest or bravest or best fighter around but unlike the other senshi she wasn't a fighter in her last life. The others had been trained to protect her while she was expected to be the leader and trained to be a Queen, a ruler.

Watching the others slowly recover instincts and abilities from their last lives always bothered Usagi. She would never openly admit but she was jealous of how easy they merged with their past selves while Usagi never seemed to unless in dire circumstances. She wanted to regain some of what she had been like during the Silver Millennium. She wanted to be smarter, more graceful and a person who was worth peoples love and friendship.

Rubbing her eyes as her mind wondered back to the previous night knowing that if she was like the Princess she was supposed to be then it would probably have never happened. She would have been too smart to let it happen.

"Damn it!" Usagi swore rubbing her face, "Why can't I stop thinking about it?"

Taking a moment to look at the clock she realized that she had plenty of time to get ready for school which her mother already said that she would call her out today. Usagi knew thought if she stayed her mother would probably harp on what happened and that was the last thing Usagi wanted, she wanted to forget it.

Maybe school would be a good idea. A small smile wanted to form at that thought as her mother would probably have a heart attack at hearing that the blonde actually wanted to go to school. If she went though maybe she could try and pay attention and get her mind off things and on the off chance actually learn something for once.

Ramblings...

I know Setsuna is out of character here but his will be a bit of an AU as she has some reasons behind her actions, namely wanting the happiness for her best friends daughter. As for her being a martial artist, well I'm sure she had to spend her time doing something so she will be a bit of a genius in several things but she will also be much more stable of a person and not so cold.

The others I will try to keep mostly in character but circumstances will drive them to act OOC at times. The biggest example of this will be the first chapter with the way the girls treated Usagi. This is a bit of an AU and the girls will be a bit more darker or edgier but that isn't the main reason for how they acted. They had a reason for it but it may be a bit clichéd.

They Ranma universe, well, Nodoka may have seemed a bit OOC but I have plans for her later. As for Genma, I chalk it up to his stupidity and tunnel-vision of joining the schools. I do have most of the story planned out but one big part I have been debating on is Nodoka and Ranma. I've talked to several people and have several suggestions but I am unsure about them. First, should Ranma's biological father be someone other than Genma? If so that is easy to work in with my plans for Nodoka. Second, if his father isn't Genma should it be someone from another source such as Tenchi, X-men or something else or should he be an original character? Lastly, should Genma just be his father and leave it at that?

I hope that everyone can give it a chance though and enjoy the story and any help on how to improve the story would be appreciated. Is more grammar okay? Any major misspelling with names or descriptions? Any glaring plot holes? Any suggestions or ideas that I could incorporate into the story to make it better? Please review and let me know.

Thanks swifteye30 for the suggestion of a pre-reader, it would be a great idea and if anyone is willing please let me know.

Also, I tried to reply to all my reviewers but I was having problems off and on so if you didn't get a reply I am truly sorry but I am truly grateful for them. Thank you all so much!

Revised Edition Released on March 29, 2010


	3. Chapter 3

**Rise of the Phoenix**

Ah, to disclaim or not to disclaim, that is thee question.

Luna...

There was something very wrong with Usagi, no doubting that after last night and this morning. Usagi was late getting home but of course that was normal because she would often be fighting with the other senshi taking on the current enemy which they still sadly didn't have a lot of information on. The girl's mother wasn't mad though, in fact she seemed pretty worried and upset when getting Chibi-Usa from the room.

After everyone was out of the room and the blonde came in for the night Luna was finally able to see the damage done to her charge. Apparently there must have been a battle with another droid or their enemy and there was no way of hiding it from Ikuko as the elder Tsukino woman could see it plain as day.

At first she wanted to just put everything off as Mamoru breaking up with Usagi but something about that just didn't sit right with the cat. When her charge refused to even respond to the black moon cat it made Luna's heart drop. Scenario after scenario ran through the cat's mind upsetting her more and more as each one grew worse with every passing second. When the blonde girl cried herself to sleep then started having nightmares Luna knew for a fact that something was seriously wrong.

Finally morning finally came and when Luna overheard bits of an argument between mother and daughter. She almost had a heart attack as the girl who would do almost anything to get out of going to school actually insisted on going instead. Sneaking out of the house as Usagi left Luna quietly while following her princess while making sure not to be noticed.

Instead of the normal hyperactive mood the blonde always had there was a dark cloud hanging over her which anyone could see. The joy and happiness that made those blue orbs of Usagi's shine was gone leaving only dull, listless eyes staring ahead while seemingly not really paying attention to anything.

It was much earlier than when the blonde usually left for school so the girl didn't seem to be in much of a hurry as she slowly trotted down the road ignoring the people on either side of her. At least that's what Luna thought at first until she saw the girl deftly move around a man not paying attention to where he was going while one hand held up a cell phone to his ear and the other with a drink carrier that held what looked like four large styrofoam cups that said Starbuck's on the side.

Shaking her head wondering what was going on, the curiosity killing her, Luna moved into an alley by the Crown Arcade to wait for the girl to go in and say hi to Motoki like she normally would when passing by. The cat was shocked when Usagi didn't even give the door to the arcade a second glance.

"Come on Haruka, wake up, we're going to be late." A groggy voice caught the black cat's attention. Looking back she saw a beat up old car with the back seat stuffed full of boxes and clothing while a short haired girl sat slumped over the steering wheel obviously sleeping while a girl with aqua colored hair tried to wake her.

Luna felt sorry for the two girls but she had other things to worry about for the moment. Hurrying from her spot she followed behind Usagi taking to the stone walls and fences to get a better view of what was going on. A part of her was starting to wonder if maybe perhaps there was something dark influencing the girl perhaps as no matter how depressed the blonde has ever gotten the girl never outright acted like this before.

Coming up to the school Luna almost fell off the fence in shock as she saw a red haired girl that power was just rolling off of in waves. Narrowing her eyes at the girl in suspicion the moon cat took several moments trying decide which one to follow but the decision was soon taken out of her hands as the rest of the senshi that attended Usagi's school was coming towards Luna's charge. Studying the three senshi the cat could see that their eyes were puffy and had bags under them as if they had little to no sleep the night before.

"Usagi!" Makota called out hurrying ahead of the other two to catch up to the blonde.

"What do you want?" Usagi asked, her voice cold and angry as she looked up at the taller brunette girl. "I thought we pretty much understood where we all stood last night."

"We just want to talk Usagi." Makota said as Ami and Minako flanked the tallest of the small group.

"Well I don't want to talk." Usagi growled out though pain could be heard in her voice as she turned to leave them but a hand grabbing hers stopped the blonde. Turning her head Usagi saw Minako holding on with a pleading look in the girl's eyes.

"What's going on?" The redhead that Luna was worried about earlier asked walking over to the group.

"We just want to talk to our friend." Ami said while looking up at the redhead whose eyes widened a bit after seeing the blue hair but only for a moment before hardening.

"They aren't my friends." Usagi growled out yanking her hand away from Minako giving the redhead time to step between the three senshi and the princess.

"You heard the girl, I advise you to beat it." The redhead said cracking her knuckles while glaring at the other three. Luna was worried for a second when she saw Makota stiffen as the girl looked like she was going to pounce.

"Come on or we'll be late." Usagi said grabbing the redhead's hand and dragging her away from the trio of shocked senshi.

With Ranma...

To say she was a bit shocked when the blonde with the strange hairstyle grabbed her hand and dragged her away from the group of girls. The girl was quick and actually had a bit of strength in her grip that surprised Ranma a bit as the redhead's first evaluation upon seeing the growing argument was that the blonde was kind of weak. The girl just seemed too stiff to be much of a fighter but then again maybe she was hurt or something making her like that. So much for first impressions.

"I'm sorry about that, my name is Usagi Tsukino and thank you for helping me." Usagi said letting go of the redhead's hand and walking next to her toward the school entrance. The girl gave Ranma a smile though there was an underlying sadness to it that even the redhead could read it despite very dense at times when concerning others emotions.

"I'm Reisha Meiou and It's no big." Ranma said scratching the back of her neck. She had to admit the girl beside her was very beautiful but quickly shook that thought from her head. She didn't exactly have any right to think those thoughts while having three fiancés. It took a moment for her to realize her train of thought before turning a little solemn but at the same time a little happy that the engagements didn't really count any more seeing as how she was kicked from the Saotome family. The fact that being kicked out really didn't mean much to Shampoo's claim didn't really cross Ranma's mind at he moment. "Just glad I could help, I don't like seeing anyone get ganged up on."

"I just hope they leave me alone today. I don't feel like dealing with them." Usagi sighed as she looked back over her shoulder as they entered into the school and headed to change their shoes.

"I'm actually new here, could you possibly direct me to...damn I forgot the number." Ranma swore, "I know my homeroom teacher's name is Miss Haruna."

"That's perfect, you're in my class then." Usagi said smiling a bit, "I'll show you where it is then if you want to hang around during free period and lunch I'll show you around."

"That would be great, thanks." Ranma said after a few moments. It would make things a lot easier and for some reason the redhead didn't want to leave the blonde alone, those other three girls might try something and it would be a cold day in hell before Ranma let anyone hurt the girl.

"Do you want to be friends?" Usagi asked giving a genuinely sweet smile this time which brought back flashes of another girl saying the same thing but this time Ranma had a good feeling about it.

"I'd love that Usagi, thanks." Ranma said smiling back.

In Setsuna's Office...

Someone was screwing with the timeline, they had to be as there was no other sane explanation. After the school year was over Setsuna planned on tracking down Neptune and Uranus separately as she knew that they would be graduating at he end of the current one. It would give Setsuna about six months to train them before the heart snatchers started on their plans and the next group of enemies would be attacking. Now though Setsuna was going to have change her plans again but in the end it would only help everyone including her old friends and her princess.

In front of her was two folders, one for Haruka Tenou and the other for Michiru and there was reports from the other teachers seeing them sleeping in an old beat up car and their uniforms smelling and being wrinkled up. From reading the complaints Setsuna checked out the time gates and found out that the time line had yet again been derailed. It was bad enough what happened to Usagi to make Setsuna abandon many of her plans to try and help her princess regain her inner light butt now she was going to have to try and help her two of her best friends besides the queen as it seemed they were now homeless.

Setsuna could understand Michiru's situation in a way as her mother was a famous violinist herself and had a thing against homosexuality. Originally her mother was supposed to help her daughter get started on her own career as violinist before Setsuna met her. Michiru wasn't even supposed to fall in love with Haruka until they were awakened as senshi.

Haruka though, her father was pretty laid back on most things that wasn't driving. His wife died shortly after Haruka's birth and after already having three sons Haruka was raised pretty much like a boy including becoming a great mechanic like her father and even a great race car driver surpassing her brothers in the sport.

Haruka was supposed to be the first to be awakened then Michiru and the two would fall in love and keep the secret from both parents. That isn't what happened though, somehow the two had already met and felt the pull of destiny toward each other and fell in love. They announced it to both sets of parents who in anger threw the young girls out of their homes. Why the hell hadn't Setsuna caught it earlier? It was enough to make her want to get drunk but then she wouldn't accomplish anything. No, she knew what she had to do and she needed to be sober to do it.

The good thing was that from everything that she could tell the new enemy was taking a break to restrategize their plans. It would be one week before a new droid would show up and hopefully it would give the Senshi of Pluto the time needed to get Uranus and Neptune early, awaken the Senshi of the Sun which was going to be easier said than done and prove to Usagi that they were there for her and wouldn't hurt her like the inner court had done.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself Setsuna started to write notes to excuse Michiru and Haruka from classes so that she could talk to the teens. She barely touched the pen to the paper before the office shook and the glass from the window behind her blew out, shattered glass flying everywhere. Closing her eyes tightly as pieces of glass fell from her hair Setsuna counted to ten silently. The timeline was royally screwed and having a nervous break down and just wiping the entire planet from time just wasn't an answer. Well, it was an answer, one she very much wanted to use butt her old friend would kill her over it.

Ramblings...

Another chapter up and hope everyone likes it. I am sorry for the slow pace but I will try to pick it up a little bit as most of the groundwork is set up. The timeline is getting more and more out of hand also which has to be getting to poor Setsuna as everything that she plans is falling apart at every turn.

Tanks NullFactor for your suggestions to read over everything more closely before I post anything. I admit that I use spell and grammar checker butt because of time constraints I have been posting pretty much right after. I took a bit longer to get this chapter out than I planned so I can try and make sure everything is good though I still may have missed stuff.

Also, I'm still looking for a pre-reader so anyone interested let me know.

I also got a few unsigned reviews which I will try and answer here since I didn't have any emails to reply to.

BlackG:

Maybe a bit but hopefully I can get him to seem more in character as much as possible with circumstances as they are around him. Hope you do like how everything comes together.

Jen:

Thanks, I know I have a lot of clichés going on here but hopefully it stays original as I tried to come up with a somewhat new plot to this type of story. I'm glad you like how I'm doing the timeline and scene shifts as I debated how to do it for awhile as I tried to decide how to make it as easy as possible to follow. As for the attack on Usagi, thanks again, I was trying to make sure that most everyone understood what happened butt I wanted to avoid any graphic details. Hope you liked this chapter.

SC Sim:

I kind of like the idea of Genma not being his father to as I don't exactly like Genma but things are leaning toward where he is for this story. With everything I'm planning it might make the story a little to convoluted as several pointed out. Not saying that this is what is going to happen but I wanted to thank everyone for their opinions on the matter. Don't worry, Ranma will not be locked as a girl as I have plans for his guy side. If everything goes well with Setsuna's plans then Usagi will get along with the Outers though I can't guarantee they will with the Inners. Usagi might get some training but that we will have to wait and see about. And as for Chibi-Usa, I want to let everyone know a part is coming up that will at first make it look like that Ranma might get locked sometime soon or something similar but it WILL BE A MISUNDERSTANDING so please don't freak out over it. If anything points or suggests to Ranma being locked don't worry he will not be locked at all during the story and Ranma won't chose to be a girl either.

Blackchaos:

Depends who you are asking about LOL. If Ranma, he will be a he despite having to be a girl for certain things. (Hint to everyone again, those certain things do not include Ranma being pregnant or anything else similar.)

Well, not sure what else to say at the moment as I just finished rereading everything and I have to be leaving in a few minutes so hope you all enjoyed.

Released on April 1, 2010


	4. Chapter 4

**Rise of the Phoenix**

The air crackled with energy as bursts of fire began arcing through the air making all of the animals nearby run for cover as they felt something was about to happen. With a resounding boom that sent shockwaves throughout the now empty area and into the city shattering windows. In the center of it a dome of fire flared to life for several moments before dyeing away to leave behind a strangely dressed woman with long flowing red hair. She had on a skin tight crimson body suit with golden gloves just past her elbow and thigh high boots of the same color. She wore a golden sash around her waist with a pin in the shape of a stylized phoenix. On her chest was the same phoenix design showing that it was more than likely a symbol of some kind. It was impossible to see her face as a crimson face plate covered it with another of the golden phoenix symbols over the right eye. Despite the mask hiding her identity, the costume didn't do anything to hide her gender; much less the amazing curves that would make any man drool at.

"Damn that brat, when I get my hands on the little spore…" The woman grumbled angrily as she panted for breath, her voice sounding a little tired as she looked around her before realizing that her technique had caused some damage to the surrounding area as she stood in the middle of a crater with a ten foot diameter. "Oops…"

Sighing she looked around one last time as she got her bearings, trying to sense her prey though for some reason it was hard to do. Taking a few deep breaths she floated a few feet into the air, throwing her arms up to the point she almost looked like a 'Y' as it looked like her body caught on fire. A giant firebird took her place momentarily before both it and the woman vanished from sight with an ear splitting bird like screech.

**Emerald Kigo**

"What do you think is going on?" Ranma heard several students asked. It was about a half hour after some of the windows in the school were blown out and there were still no news on what caused it. Thankfully the class was facing the opposite way from whatever the cause was so no one was hurt in this class. Sadly, some of the classes facing the other way weren't so lucky, yet no one suffered anything other than a few minor cuts.

Ranma was sitting next to her new friend in the back of the class ignoring the looks from the girl that reminded her of Ukyo. The two of them really seemed to hit it off so far and since the school was in lockdown as some people feared it was some kind of terrorist bomb that was set off, they had s chance to get to know each other more. The two new people that came and turned desk to face theirs made Ranma a little nervous at first, but they were turning out to be just as nice as Usagi herself.

The girl's name was Naru and apparently she was one of Usagi's best friends, but there was something a little off about that claim. It almost sounded like the two hadn't talked in forever, much less seen each other. The boy himself turned out to be a bit of a geek reminding Ranma of Gosunkugi, but he wasn't a wannabe voodoo practioner. His name was Umino and apparently he was Naru's boyfriend. The gleam from his glasses sent a small chill down the redhead's back though as it reminded her of Nerima's resident mercenary girl.

"So how good are you?" Umino asked, a predatory look crossing his face as he whipped out a small notebook and a pen obviously preparing to take down notes. Ranma was beginning to regret bringing up that she was a martial artist. That was quickly put to an end from the smack up the backside of his head courtesy of Naru.

"Don't you dare start trying to sale information or spread rumors about her; can't you see how nervous she is?" Naru huffed at her boyfriend while giving him a strong glare.

"S-Sorry." Umino said while rubbing the back of his head as his face flushed. It wasn't that Ranma was exactly nervous about people knowing more about her real past as if it did spread out and possibly making it across the different social media sites that a lot of teens enjoyed using the fiancés and rivals might start coming out of the woodwork here and that was something Ranma wanted to avoid at all cost. It was something that Setsuna brought up and one of the only reasons the older woman talked her into going to school under a new name and as a girl. The woman seemed to keep one step ahead of all the redhead's objections.

"I have an idea, let's play some cards." Usagi suggested pulling a deck of playing cards out of her bag. The sadness hanging on in her eyes, but the hope in her voice that seemed to beg them not to bring it up again and just to agree got everyone to nod their heads in acceptance.

It didn't take long for Ranma's new friends to learn something very important about the redhead; she couldn't lie to save her life. This in fact translated into one very important detail when it came to a game of cards, bluffing was impossible and yet highly amusing to watch the busty girl try.

"You are so lucky we aren't playing strip poker…" Umino mumbled, but the three girls heard him.

"You pervert!" Naru smacked as she hit the bespectacled boy upside the head hard, driving his forehead into the desk before the girl got up and stormed off.

"Naru, wait!" Umino called after her, wincing in slight pain it caused as he got up and chased after the girl who stalked to the other side of the room.

"That was…weird." Ranma mumbled as Usagi giggled a bit, a sound that made the redhead grow a soft smile for some reason. Something was telling her that at the moment the blonde didn't feel like laughing, but the antics of the two had seemed to somewhat cheer her up a bit.

"They're always like that, don't worry about them." Usagi said as she rested her head on the palm of her hand, her elbow propped up on the desk as she looked at the redhead. "Reisha, I…thank you for what you did this morning. I really didn't want to deal with them after last night."

"What happened last night?" Ranma asked, mentally kicking herself as she saw the flash of pain in the deep, sorrow filled blue eyes. "I'm sorry, if you don't…"

"It's fine." Usagi sighed again, waving off the redhead's offer to not say anything with her free hand. "I…something really bad happened…It made me late to meet up with my so called friends. They didn't even give me a chance to explain or defend myself as they tore into me for being ditzy, clumsy…worthless."

"Hey, don't say that about yourself!" Ranma said, for once seeing clearly the emotions and body language in someone when it didn't come to martial arts. She knew she wasn't too empathic with others, but the pain the girl was in was clear even to the redhead. "You aren't worthless and if these so called friends make you feel that way then they aren't your friends."

"Please, let's just drop this for now." Usagi pleaded as she folded her arms on the desk and laid her head down on them. "I'll tell you about it when we leave if…if you hang out with me. If you can stand to…"

Ranma wanted to reach out and comfort her, maybe hug her, but old habits died hard as did old fears. Instead, the redhead finally managed to bring herself to squeeze the blondes shoulder in a somewhat comforting manner. "Just try and stop me, we're friends, right. And besides, I don't want to keep secrets from you if we're going to be friends so I want to show you something."

"Okay…" Usagi whispered softly, a hint of guilt in her voice.

**Kigo Emerald**

Makoto was seriously wishing that Minako or Ami shared class with her this year since she had no one to talk to. Since becoming a sailor senshi, the Senshi of Jupiter to be exact, the tall brunette didn't really bother making friends with anyone here since Usagi and the girls were the best friends she ever had. After last night though she feared that she may have lost her best friend, the glue that had their small group together, and she couldn't really blame anyone but herself.

True she was upset with Usagi, all of them were. They knew that Usagi could be so much more if she just tried, they had seen it after all when she took on her Princess Serenity persona when push came to shove. There was a new enemy; much more powerful than any of their previous foes, and their princess was acting just as irresponsible as ever.

Then again, isn't that what she loved about Usagi? What all of them loved about their princess? Her carefree and loving attitude, something that just drew people to her and could even make enemies into friends as it had during the whole Doom Tree saga. With the new enemy Usagi needed to be more serious though, especially with Chibi Usa being on the line with the enemy out to catch her for who knew what.

Sighing Makoto looked back at the redhead and blonde again, she wanted to go talk to the blonde so much. She wanted to apologize so much for last night as even though she believed Usagi needed to be more serious, attacking the blonde like that was out of line. They all had been out of line lately with the blonde as they had been hard on her, trying to get the girl to act more mature like when Usagi was Princess Serenity, but they came to a realization last night. Usagi had no idea why they had been pushing her so much, why they had been so hard on her as no one had bothered to sit down and talk to her straight up about it. They had all created one hell of a cluster fuck with their actions as their princess wanted nothing to do with them.

Going to talk to Usagi was out of the question as the blonde had made friends with the new red-haired student, someone who Makoto was sure was lying about their identity. Even with the hair down and the girl's uniform, the brunette recognized the girl which scared Makoto slightly. She didn't know why Ranma would lie about his, or currently her identity, but she had a pretty good guess. If she had so many people treating her like a trophy, Makoto would try to get away from it to. She had tried to tell her cousin that time and time again in their letters, but Ukyo just refused to listen. Makoto wouldn't rat out the redhead, but she wouldn't confront her after the look she received from the girl that morning. Ranma was the BEST martial artist, of that Makoto had no doubt, and she wasn't going to push her luck with the redhead when said redhead could snap her without a thought.

Again, Makoto had to wonder how things got so screwed up as she put her head down on her desk wanting to cry for the first time in so long. She had driven her best friend away, and she didn't really have anyone to blame but herself. Right now if she had to chose between a more serious yet cold blonde to the ditzy and loving friend, Makoto would happily give anything for it to be the friend that she needed so much right now.

**Emerald Kigo**

Haruka wasn't having a good day, the only saving grace being her Michiru. Of course the aqua haired girl could make any situation better being the blonde's light in what otherwise would be a dark world for Haruka. The blonde was very worried though as the two made their way slowly down the hallway, hand in hand with their fingers intertwined. Despite the suspected terrorist attack, something she doubted seeing how Juuban was a hotspot for strange activity, the two were on their way to see the new school counselor.

"What do you think they want?" Michiru asked softly, a little pain in her voice making the blonde's blood boil. How could a mother that was that close to her just throw their child to the curb over something so…so stupid?

"I'm not sure honey, but I'm sure it's nothing." Haruka said, squeezing her beloveds hand reassuringly. The problem was she had plenty of theories on what the office could want, none of them that good. For one, as both their parents had already proved, many people were prejudiced. Were they going to be thrown out of school just because the two shared a love for each other? True it was unconventional by many people's judgment, but did that make it any less real? Did it make it any less real?

Another reason they could be heading there was their current appearance. It had been over a week since they were kicked out with no money and only and old car that Haruka owned as she was planning to restore it. They had no way to clean their clothes, much less take a decent bath themselves. Their uniforms were very crinkled and starting to show the dirt they were collecting. On top of that the two were beginning to smell, hell, they reeked if she would be honest with herself. They both knew it would only be a matter of time before questions were asked, especially with the amount of times they fell asleep in class lately. Whatever happened though, the blonde knew that at least she had her soulmate to stand beside her.

After entering the office the secretary didn't waste anytime telling them to go on through to the counselor's office. Haruka was expecting some old man or woman with a hard glare and cold demeanor. What she got was a beautiful young woman, maybe a few years older than themselves. With a dark green ponytail, red eyes, and a gorgeous figure sat one Setsuna Meiou with a soft smile. The woman waved to the two chairs sitting in front of the desk as she said, "Good morning ladies, please take a seat."

Nervously, both girls sat down while scooting closer together to draw comfort from each other and make a unified stand against whatever this woman was going to say. There was nothing that could be said that could break Haruka and Michiru up. After all, if their parents couldn't split them up then how could this woman manage to do it?

"So ladies, care to tell me why you are living in a car?" Setsuna asked while arching an eyebrow at the closeness of the two younger women.

"Our parents kicked us out, where else are we supposed to stay?" Haruka asked, a little anger filling her voice while Michiru's eyes misted over.

"Mrs. Meiou…" Michiru began.

"Ms. Meiou…Or better yet, Setsuna." Setsuna said with a soft smile to the aqua haired girl.

"S-Setsuna, we love each other with all of our hearts. When our parents demanded that we give each other up we refused and they…they…" Michiru said before bursting out in tears making Haruka lean over and gather her up in a tight, comforting hug.

"They threw us out without a second thought and we can't go to a shelter because we're still minors. It could cause too many problems and might even get up split up." Haruka admitted, hoping that this woman didn't call children services or anything. If she did, then they would only run away again. Neither of the younger girls was going to let the other go without a fight.

"Well, that is a problem." Setsuna said while drumming her fingers on the desktop. "We can't just let you stay on the streets, it's dangerous and no place for you."

"We don't have any money and we can't get a job without our parents signing off on it until we're 18, what the hell do you expect us to do?" Haruka snapped, growing angrier.

"For starters, we need to get you a place to stay." Setsuna said.

"Yeah, and how are we going to do that? I swear if you call children services that we will only run." Haruka growled.

"Now when did I mention doing that?" Setsuna hummed, a twinkle in her eye.

"What, you going to let us stay with you?" Haruka demanded.

"As a matter of fact, I am." Setsuna stated before pulling out a small white envelope from her desk and sliding it across the surface to the blonde. Her hand shaking a bit, Haruka reached out and picked up the envelope and peered inside of it. There was some money, more than enough to get some lunch with plenty left over, a piece of paper with an address and directions and a small key that looked like it could be to a house.

"Wh-what is this?" Haruka asked in shock.

"My daughter and I share a very large house with plenty of extra rooms, and it does get lonely there. I want you two to move in with me until you graduate and decide what you want to do." Setsuna said softly, "There's enough money in there for lunch for you two and gas to drive to my house…our home. I'll meet you there this afternoon, make yourselves at home until then. I'll bring some pizzas for dinner."

At first Haruka was going to throw the envelope back believing it to be a trap of some sort. Maybe children services were going to be waiting for them or this woman was going to end up doing…something to them. Something that neither girl would probably like. Looking into those red eyes though sparked something inside of Haruka, a familiarity of sorts. She knew that she had never met this woman before, but something was telling her to trust the red eyed woman.

"Thank you." Haruka said softly while rubbing her eyes. She didn't want to admit it, but she was close to crying. Neither of their families would help them but here was this stranger not only willing to help, but willing to open up her home to them.

"Your very welcome my dear. The only stipulations of staying with me is to concentrate on school and do your best." Setsuna said as she pulled out a pen and wrote something down on another piece of paper before handing it to Haruka. "Give these to your teachers and I'll see you this evening."

**Emerald Kigo**

Deep inside underground ruins on the moon a black dome of energy appeared as dark lightning cracked around it and arced out striking different before fading away to reveal a cloaked figure along with a white haired man, a blue haired man and a green haired woman. Unlike the others though, the cloaked figure wasn't affected by the changes in the timeline. After all it was a being that existed outside of normal time and space. Neither truly alive yet neither was it dead despite its name of Death Phantom.

He had to admit that unlike the original timeline were the Dark Moon Family was banished to Nemesis, this version of the family was a lot harder to manipulate. In the end with a few lies and false visions, the Phantom was able to convince them to submit to his power to 'help' them over come their oppressors. The thing was the so called oppressors were far from the tyrants Phantom made them out to be. He had to get them away from the future before the damnable gender bending troublemaker was able to break the tenuous hold that the cloaked figure held on the clan.

The surprise attack on the palace had managed to injure the visiting queen and draw attention from the central palace where Death Phantom himself went to try and steal the Silver Crystal. Unfortunately that little brat had to have already gotten it and ran back to the past were they were now.

"What a dump." Esmeraude scoffed as she looked around them at the centuries old throne room that at the moment was in ruins.

"We will only be here long enough to catch the little rabbit, and then it will be back home." Saphir said, though it was apparent that he agreed with the woman that he secretly loved.

"We will get the crystal and head back home and show those monsters that we aren't the little sheep they can push around." Demand said as he looked to the Phantom. "All we have to do is catch the little brat, correct?"

"Of course, but first we need to find out how well Rubeus is doing." Phantom said as he pulled out a dark glowing orb from his sleeve and peered into it, willing it to see what is currently going on with the red haired dark moon member. Seeing the constant defeats from this timelines senshi made him growl to himself. It looked like it would a little tougher than he first thought, but nothing was impossible.

**Ramblings...**

Wow, it's hard to believe that it has been two years since my last update. I'm really sorry, my life has been really hectic, hellish even at times, but I am back and I'm going to try and keep this story updated as well as possibly write some new ones as time goes on. This chapter is a little shorter than I planned as I was going to have a scene with what's going on in Nerima, but that will have to wait until next chapter which won't be done until at the least next weekend as this week I will be pretty busy, but I will have a little time to work on it here and there. Thank you everyone that has read and reviewed as well as all the communities and favorites.

Chapter released on April 1, 2012

Chapter Edited on April 5, 2012

-Fixed the spelling on Makoto's name thanks to it being pointed out by Dumbledork, Pryde Kitty, Ancalador, and Princess Moonie of the moon so thanks everyone.


	5. Chapter 5

It had already been several weeks, and despite her hopes as well as the dumbass duo insisting the boy would be back, Nodoka was beginning to realize that her child may never come back. She knew it was stupid to go along with Genma's plans to convince Ranma to marry Akane for their family's honor, but honor was something very important to her as it was all she had left after her parents disowned her for marrying Genma. She had tried her best to instill honor into her child after they were reunited, even if she wasn't too sure if the pact to unite the schools through marriage should even be valid after all of the other so called engagements. She let her husband convince her into letting him clean up the mess, to let him take care of everything so honor could be satisfied.

She was beginning to wish she hadn't, as she was beginning to wonder just what good honor was when it caused such pain. Part of the reason she married Genma was because of honor, because she had discovered that she was pregnant with Ranma. It had cost her both of her parents as their family was a powerful clan that held honor highly who wouldn't allow her to have a child out of wedlock, nor marry a man like Genma and remain part of the clan. It had cost her seeing her only child grow up, missing out on many of Ranma's first moments. And now, it may have completely cost her Ranma, all for a word, a concept, that she was no longer sure held any meaning for her.

"Auntie, are you all right?" Kasumi asked softly, Nabiki following right behind her as they found Nodoka sitting out back on the porch, clutching the cloth wrapped katana closely to her chest and staring off into darkening night sky. Soun and Genma were, of course, drinking bottle after bottle of sake, getting progressively more drunk as the evening progressed.

"No, Kasumi, I don't think I am." Nodoka replied as a loud 'Kiyaaaah!' could be heard from the dojo, where Akane was breaking blocks of stone. Frankly, Nodoka didn't see how that could be considered martial arts. True, it could help if the person actually did more than that and jog, but the way Akane went at it just didn't seem to do anything for the girl's skills as a martial artist.

"I'm sure Ranma baby will be back soon Auntie." Nabiki said, her voice nervous. Of course, Nodoka knew the reason behind that was the girl just wasn't very good at comforting others after hiding behind the mask of the 'Ice Queen' for so long.

"Girls, would you tell me the truth about something?" Nodoka asked softly, almost afraid to know their thoughts on this matter. Before waiting for their reply she continued. "Do you truly, honestly think that Ranma and Akane would be happy together if they got married?"

"Of course they would Auntie." Kasumi assured the older woman while plastering on the fake smile that had fooled everyone for years. Everyone except for Nodoka that is, and possibly Nabiki, but the older woman wasn't sure about that.

"Please don't lie to me, Kasumi." Nodoka said, her voice becoming stern as she looked the eldest Tendo girl directly in the eye.

"Auntie, I...No, I don't think that they could be happy. It's why Nabiki and I have done everything we could to keep the two apart." Kasumi sighed sadly.

"It's not what you think, Auntie." Nabiki jumped in when she saw the growing anger in the redheaded Saotome matrons gaze. "We love Ranma, like a brother anyways, but Akane would kill him before long if they got married. Daddy won't punish her and every time we tried...We ended up being the ones yelled at and scolded. Frankly, our sister is becoming even loonier than Kuno. We love our sister, but we hate the person she's becoming."

"Then why not marry him yourselves, or let one of the other girls marry him?" Nodoka asked, her anger draining away at Nabiki's reasoning.

"We love him like a brother, Auntie, we could never be the wife he deserves because our hearts wouldn't be in it. The only other girl who has a legitimate claim is Ukyo, and she would expect Ranma to give up his Art to help run a restaurant that would drain the life out of him. We know she loves Ranma, but besides being completely wrong for him, she sees him as a trophy like the others do right now."

"I see…thank you girls." Nodoka sighed, before pulling a small envelope out of her kimono and handing it to Nabiki.

"Whoa, what's this for?" Nabiki gasped, somewhat shocked at the large stack of money it contained.

"I want to hire you to find my son, and when you do I want to be the only one you tell. You are not to sell his location to anyone else." Nodoka said as she turned and headed back to the house not waiting for an answer. The money would be more than the others would pay combined to find Ranma so it would keep the younger girl satisfied for now.

"I'm already trying, and I wouldn't give his location to these clowns for all the yen in Japan." Nabiki sighed, but the older woman was already gone. She clutched at the envelope, mentally debating whether to keep it or give the money back. On one hand, she knew this had to be pretty much all the money the woman had. On the other hand, with dear old daddy doing nothing but drinking and complaining about Ranma, and Akane breaking brick after brick for 'training', they could really use the money.

**~Emerald Kigo~**

"Don't...ever...do that...again!" Usagi huffed between taking deep breaths. She wanted to avoid seeing the girls, but she wasn't at all prepared for what happened to be Reisha's favored mode of travel. She wasn't sure how the red haired girl could roof hop as easily as the senshi could, but she wouldn't believe that she was evil based off something like that, because if she was trying to hunt the senshi she wouldn't have revealed her abilities.

"Sorry," Reisha laughed nervously as she dug into her bag pulling out a house key to unlock the door.

"Oh wow! You actually live here Reisha?" Usagi asked in shock when she finally caught her breath and regained her bearings. The house was huge; hell, huge didn't begin to describe the mansion.

Once they were inside she could tell that Reisha's family must be very well off. There were paintings that looked very artsy, not to mention expensive adornments on almost every wall as well as glass statues of animals everywhere. The living room suit had tasteful furniture made of real leather, and the entertainment system was to die for. In fact, the few shelves on either side of it were crammed full of both games and blu-ray movies.

"Yep...Setsuna, my adoptive mother...though she's young enough to be my sister...well, she owns the place." Reisha said, before realizing she was rambling. She was so nervous, she really liked Usagi as she seemed like she would be a great friend and, to be honest, she felt a connection with the blonde. It was why she wanted to get this out of the way now, if she showed Usagi the curse now it wouldn't hurt so much as it would if they got closer and the girl found out about the curse by accident.

"You said you wanted to show me something?" Usagi asked, as she turned her attention back to the redhead.

"Y-Yeah, let me get some tea for us first, have a seat." Reisha said as a large grin grew on the blonde's face. It was one of the few real smiles Reisha saw on the blonde's face all day as there was a deep sadness in the girls beautiful, soulful blue eyes.

"And cookies?" Usagi chirped before her eyes grew wide in horror and she clapped her hands over her mouth.

"And cookies." Reisha grinned back, a warm and friendly smile for the blonde despite the nervousness building within that was almost destroying her composure. A few minutes later they were seated on the plush, very comfy couch with a tray of tea, cookies and two small bowls of water, one of them with a little steam coming off of it.

"Usagi, do you believe in magic?" Reisha finally asked after several minutes of silence that was beginning to weigh on both of them. For Usagi, it was the pull she was feeling towards the redhead, unsure of what it was. For Reisha, it was the fear of rejection of her first new friend here and with the experience with Akane, well, things weren't looking so good from her point of view.

"Of course I do, with all of the monsters and the senshi fighting how could I not?" asked Usagi as her nervousness grew at this. She was praying that her new friend wasn't an enemy now after the strange question. "Why?"

"When I was five years old, my birth father took me on a ten year martial arts training journey which led through us through a lot of supposedly cursed training grounds. When we reached a place called Jusenkyo, we didn't think much of the claims of it being cursed, though we didn't actually know how it was supposed to be cursed. My pops didn't know how to speak, much less read Chinese." Reisha explained as she rubbed her arm nervously as Usagi put the cookie she was eating down and stared at Reisha wide eyed, worry evident in the gaze.

"What happened?" Usagi asked softly, realizing that Reisha had said she was adopted, which had her jump to the conclusion that the place had taken her new friend's father's life. "Was the place deadly? Did it kill your father?"

"Sometimes I wish the pools were deadly." Reisha sighed softly, sadness in her voice. "The pools were cursed to change the person who falls into them into what drowned in them. My pops fell into the Spring of Drowned Panda, while I…I fell into the Spring of Drowned Girl. Cold water activates the curse while hot water reverses it."

"Huh?" Usagi asked, gears turning in her mind. She never claimed to be the smartest person alive despite actually being pretty bright, but if Reisha fell into the spring that a girl drowned in, and falling into the spring changed a person into a girl, then that would mean...

"I was born Ranma Saotome." Ranma said dipping her hand just deep enough into the bowl to activate the change, leaving him a boy. He looked sadly at the blonde as a war raged in her eyes as she backed into the couch trying to get away from him, hugging herself and shaking. She was alone in a room with a strange boy who, apparently, was strong enough to do anything he wanted and no one would hear her scream for help. It could happen all over again, and she wouldn't be able to stop it.

"Usagi?" Ranma asked, shocked by this reaction. True people could be scared of the curse, though mostly they were disgusted by it. The small voice of the blonde begging him not to hurt her though was different and he wasn't sure how to take it. It took a few moments to realize that Usagi started acting like this when he became a guy again and something clicked in his mind that she seemed scared of him, of Ranma and not Reisha. Hoping that Usagi would calm down, he thrust his hand into the bowl of cold water, changing him back into a girl.

"Please no, not again...please..." Usagi whimpered as she hid her face in her knees. The blonde visibly relaxed when she heard a feminine voice instead of the masculine voice Ranma's guy form had.

"Usagi, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." Reisha said sadly as she tried to pull the blonde girl into a hug. She wasn't very good at comforting people yet, as quiet voices in the back of her head kept whispering to her that she would be malleted into LEO for it. When no pain came, she tightened the hug on the blonde while rubbing her back and reassuring Usagi that she was safe.

"I'm so sorry." Usagi sniffed as she pulled back away from the redhead who pulled a box of tissues off the end table and offered them to Usagi.

"It's okay, Usagi, but do you want to talk about it?" Reisha asked softly.

"I guess you deserve an explanation, but please stay a girl for now..." Usagi sniffed, her voice low though the redhead could still hear.

"Do you hate me now?" Reisha sighed sadly, wondering if she lost her new friend.

"WHAT? NO! No...I don't hate you, I just...When I saw you as a guy, here alone with me, I...Fear, fear overtook me of it happening again." Usagi burst out while rubbing the tears away. "Last night, I was attacked...A guy in an alley grabbed me, forced me...He raped me."

Realization dawned on Reisha, though she never really knew too much about it, she heard the word a few times since coming back to Japan. She knew it could be bad after asking Dr. Tofu about it, the doctor explaining that sometimes the emotional and mental damage could actually be worse than the physical. Sighing when she remembered that sometimes it was easier for victims to be around girls than guys at first, the redhead decided to stay a girl for now around the blonde.

"Do you know who it was, Usagi? I'll make sure he doesn't ever hurt you or anyone ever again." Reisha growled softly, anger and hatred burning deep for the bastard who could hurt the sweet and kind blonde in such a way.

"No, I never saw him before. I can't even remember exactly what he looked like." Usagi sniffed. "My friends, when I needed them they turned me away, right after it happened last night."

"I'll never turn you away, and I'll never let anyone else hurt you again." Reisha said, the determination in her voice making the blonde smile sadly before hugging the redhead.

"Thank you Reisha...Ranma...what should I call you?" Usagi asked.

"Reisha when I'm a girl, Ranma when I'm a guy. It keeps things less complicated in a way." Reisha said as they jerked away after hearing a clearing throat.

"Hello ladies." Setsuna said with a sad smile to Usagi. "I'm sorry about what happened to you Miss Tsukino, if you ever need to talk though I'm here for you."

"Thank you, Mrs. Meiou." Usagi sniffed, a little embarrassed at the school counselor hearing what happened to her.

"We're going to be having two new guests staying with us Reisha dear." Setsuna said as she claimed the leather recliner and snatched one of the extra cups on the tray, pouring herself some tea and claiming a cookie of her own. "They've also been through some bad times, so please treat them nicely, and I'm sure they will treat you the same. In fact, I'm sure they will be very protective of you Miss Tsukino."

"Please call me Usagi." Usagi replied.

"Of course we'll be nice to them." Reisha said with confusion in her voice. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Call me Setsuna then, Usagi. And as for our guests, they're homosexual, or girls who prefer being with another girl, in this case each other. You don't have to worry about them though; they won't try to force you into anything though they may flirt a bit." Setsuna said, already knowing that the only negative reactions likely to be coming from the two before her would be a little fear, possibly, in Usagi's case, while Reisha would be a little uncomfortable at the attention she would undoubtedly garner. The two won't reject the older girls' offer of friendship though, and despite the nervousness between the four, they would form very close bonds and a very strong friendship.

"That has to be hard for them to deal with, since most people around here aren't exactly accepting of people like that. I don't see anything wrong with it though, if they love each other then there should be nothing that stands in the way of that." Usagi said, though she was curious of how exactly that kind of relationship really worked out.

"I have nothing against them or who they love, if they're good people then I'd be happy to be friends with them if they're willing." Reisha said, and Setsuna knew the redhead meant it.

"I'm glad to hear that, come on in ladies." Setsuna called with a smile on her face. She was glad she timed her arrival home to coincide with the arrival of her new house guests. "May I introduce Michiru Kaioh and Haruka Tenoh, ladies this is my adopted daughter Reisha Meiou and her friend Usagi Tsukino."

After about a half hour of talking Usagi had to leave for home and Reisha had decided to follow her to make sure she made it home safely. Haruka and Michiru was still cuddled up on the love seat talking with Setsuna when the short haired blonde remembered seeing something that interested her in the garage after Setsuna parked her SUV. "That was a beautiful car." Haruka said talking about the red sports car parked there. Setsuna knew exactly what she was talking about as she had purchased it just for the blonde.

"Thanks, I never drive it though and it needs someone to do so and take care of it." Setsuna explained as a small smile tugged at her lips. "Know anyone who would be interested?"

"A-Are you serious?" Haruka asked as Michiru admonished her lover.

"It's okay Michiru," Setsuna laughed. "I prefer my SUV, so it really would be better if someone who can treat it right could get some use out of it."

With a small smile Michiru thanked Setsuna while Haruka voiced her thanks in a much louder way. Things were looking up for the two girls and they were praying that things continued in that way while thanking whoever was watching over them and was responsible for their turn in fortune.

**~Emerald Kigo~**

A young red-haired woman stalked down the streets looking for her prey, wearing a pair of tight jeans, boots, a midriff bearing short sleeve tee that hugged her curves perfectly and a denim jacket that reached her waist. Her long hair was tied back in a French braid while the heels on her boots made noise with every step on the paved sidewalk. Her annoyance was growing with every passing moment as she cursed the little brat for somehow throwing off her ability to find her life-force. Normally, the young woman could easily trace the younger girl's life-force, but at the moment she could only tell that the child was in the city somewhere.

She was so pissed off at the little rabbit running the way she did making her job all that much harder. She needed to find the little brat and if she was lucky, she might let the pink haired spore live long enough to get back to the future...if she was lucky...

"DAMN YOU RABBIT!" The redhead screamed at the sky, making several passing people stop and look at her as if she was crazy, making the redhead sweat drop in embarrassment. Hanging her head she hurried off away from the gathering crowd.

**Ramblings...**

This may be the last rambling section I will make, or I may possibly try to just make them shorter as I have had a few people mention that they detract from the story. I will keep writing chapters though lol, so don't worry. The last chapter wasn't an April fool's joke either so please don't worry.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews and continued support for this story. I'd like to thank Orchamus for beta reading and Dumbledork, Pryde Kitty, Ancalador, and Princess Moonie of the moon for pointing out my mistake in Jupiter's name in the last chapter as it should have been Makoto.

Thanks for your review Janissa, I'm glad you liked the story so far. As I already said, after this chapter I will be mostly doing away with this section, thanks for the advice.

I tried replying to your review jupitersthunder, but it said you have PM's set to off. I'm glad you like the story so far and hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Also, there was some kind of hiccup in the DocX transfer system that took out all of the spacing so I had to put the spacing back in. I'm pretty sure I have it all fixed, but if it seems weird let me know and I'll fix it, thanks.

**Chapter Originally Posted On: April 7, 2012**

**Edited on: April 9, 2012  
Changed Ranma's name when female to Reisha. Will now on refer to girl Ranma as Reisha and male Ranma simply as Ranma. (Thanks Orchamus for the suggestion)  
**


	6. Chapter 6

It had been a trying day, a very trying day indeed as the redhead sighed, looking hungrily at a shop with pastries on display in the window. She didn't have any money on her from this era as she didn't have time to get any after learning the little spore had run back in time. She had to follow the little girl before the temporal trace disappeared completely as it was already pretty weak as it was. Still, the redhead was so hungry and she couldn't help the slight bead of drool that was forming at the corner of her mouth. Those croissant's looked soooo good. She started suddenly, unable to help the curse that came out as she stumbled after being bumped into.

"Ranma?" A male voice asked, the confusion in his voice pulling the redhead's attention towards a very handsome, yet somewhat dim looking boy who was staring at her with a befuddled look on his face, apparently the one who had bumped her.

"Porky?" The girl asked as she fought her memories for the boy's real name. After all she'd seen many pictures of the eternally lost boy when he was younger. She never liked him though, his future self and she doubted she would like this one much either. Seeing the boy's face flush in anger she realized that no, she wouldn't like this one at all.

"You bastard! You abandoned Akane and tore her heart out!" The boy snarled as the redhead blinked before glaring at him, remembering his name.

"Hey bacon bits for brains, I'm not Ranma!" The girl snapped at the boy, her own anger boiling up. First she had to track down the little spore of a Rabbit and get the Silver Crystal, and now she had to deal with a delusional idiot with the IQ of a rock. No, saying that was an insult...to the rock.

"Damn you, Saotome, I'll get my revenge this time!" The boy snarled, throwing a punch that the girl dodged by leaning to the side before spinning around and redirecting another punch that was aimed for her head.

"At least you got one thing right you delusional idiot, but I'm not Ranma!" The girl snarled as the boy pulled out his umbrella. Sensing a spike of power not far away distracted the girl a moment and almost cost her as she barely dodged the umbrella's thrust. It did manage to piss her off as it caused her not to good a good fix on the location.

"Yeah right, then who are you? How many Japanese redheads do you know?" The boy asked, almost wishing he hadn't moments later as a powerful wave of energy smashed into him knocking the umbrella from his hands as the girl began to float into the air and a golden tattoo looking design of a bird over her eye glowed into existence. Throwing out her arms to either side of her as a ball of fire engulfed her while not damaging their surroundings. The fire quickly took on the shape of a bird surrounding the girl as the skin tight red and gold uniform took the place of her clothes.

"I...am...PHOENIX!" The girl breathed out slowly, until 'Phoenix' came out half as a cry and half sounding like a bird's angry screech. The boy began backing slowly away from the visibly upset girl while yanking off several of his bandanas. The boy floated up in the air as one of the wings of fire surrounded him without burning him, as if it was plucking him off the ground as the girl held her hand out as if holding something in it. "Why don't you get lost?" Not even a moment later the firebird threw the bow into the horizon, watching his flight path until he became a speck. Ha, Air Akane had nothing on her.

"I sense her, she's close by." A voice said inside the redhead's head.

"Let's not keep her waiting then," was the redhead's mental reply as she slipped on the mask. Throwing her arms in the air the firebird let out a screech before disappearing in a ball of fire.

**Emerald Kigo**

"She's here." Rubeus sighed as the image in the crystal mirror of the firebird faded away, his four sisters standing in a semi-circle behind him. They had no choice; they had to do something drastic before the hiding Rabbit was found by the damned redhead.

"What do we do?" Koan asked softly, everyone in the room sharing her worry. The worst person they could have faced besides the King and Queen was here and if they didn't quickly finish their mission all would be lost. Still, a part of her wondered if what they were doing was right. The Death Phantom wanted the little girl dead and the Silver Crystal for themselves, or that failing all of the Senshi dead before they could become their future versions.

"Maybe we should just give up and go back home," Petz said, worry filing her voice for her sibling's safety.

"We can't, you know the punishment for failure. The Phantom warned us before sending us back." Berthier sighed.

"We use all of the power that we have to create Droids and lead a full scale assault on the Senshi," Rubeus said, knowing that it was the only chance they had. It would take every ounce of power that they had to create the forces he was talking about and they wouldn't be very strong. Normally they could create one, maybe two powerful droids at a time while giving the energy supplies a chance to recharge. Doing this though would drain it completely, destroying their base and any way home. Of course that didn't mean much, as he knew that the others had come back and were on the moon. After they had the Silver Crystal, they could use it to contact the others and escape.

"It could work, the Droids would distract those brats and we could snatch the little Rabbit right from under their noses." Calaveras agreed, though she was also wary about this. The longer they stayed here, the closer they came to the deadline Death Phantom set for them. Still, the longer they stayed away from that...thing...the more and more they questioned why they were even here in the first place.

"Get ready to move out, it will only take a few minutes to create the Droid army." Rubeus ordered, deciding that it was now or never. They would either be successful, or they would wind up dead, it was simple as that.

**Emerald Kigo**

"Do you really think I would be any good?" Usagi asked nervously as Reisha and herself walked towards her home from the mansion that belonged to the Meiou family. It was a long walk so they had to ride the bus part of the way where Reisha had brought up teaching the blonde martial arts. The problem was that despite the confidence the redhead had in her ability, Usagi wasn't sure if she believed in herself enough to do this. Especially after everything that had happened to her. She still felt so weak, so pathetic and dirty...

"It'll be okay." Reisha said softly, stopping to pull the blonde into a hug. She could almost hear Usagi's thoughts as she rubbed the taller girl's back softly. "I swear I'll do my best to protect you and give you the tools you need to protect yourself as well. You aren't pathetic Usagi, not in my eyes you aren't and you shouldn't be in your eyes either."

"Reisha...I don't know what to say..." Usagi sighed sadly, but she accepted the redhead's comfort and decided that she may as well give it a try at least. It was hard to believe the soft body holding her though was really a man, cursed to change into a girl. It was also hard to believe she was as strong as she boasted, but after riding in the redhead's arms earlier Usagi was inclined to believe it. The only reason they even took the bus this time was because Usagi wasn't sure she was ready for another trip over the roofs of the city.

"You don't have to say anything, just plan on coming to my house tomorrow night and we can get started on your training and do our homework together at the same time." Reisha said as she let Usage back away, though keeping their hands held. Reisha's thumbs softly rubbed across the blonde's knuckles while giving a soft yet reassuring smile.

"F-Fine, I'll come." Usagi relented with a roll of her eyes. Yet despite her protests, it felt good to have someone want to hang out with her of their own violation, instead of either doing it because it was duty or because the blonde begged them to.

"Good, we will-!" Reisha was saying when the ground shook from a loud explosion. "What was that?"

"Ummm...I have to go, I need..." Usagi was saying as she noticed the worried look on the redhead's face as the girl chewed on her bottom lip in thought.

"Come on, I promised I'd keep you safe, but I need to check out what's happening!" Reisha said in worry as she grabbed Usagi up in her arms before taking to the roofs. She could see what's going on and leave Usagi on a roof while taking care of what happened. If she was lucky it would only be Ryoga, but if not then it might be one of the monsters that had been attacking the city.

Usagi looked up at the redhead, watching the crimson locks sway in the wind, before choking back a gasp as her eyes widened in shock. The cause of her surprise was her friend's forehead, or more specifically the glowing crest upon Reisha's brow that looked like a small firebird. Was the redhead a new senshi? Usagi wasn't sure why, but the thought of the redhead being a senshi hurt, as that would mean the only reason that they were friends was because of that. Was it wrong to want friends that would love her unconditionally without being forced to because of the legacy of a long dead kingdom and their so called destiny?

"What the hell is that?" Reisha gasped as she stopped on the roof of a building to look down in the street to see dozens of moving bodies. That was all they were though, female shaped white bodies with no hair, eyes, any facial features actually. They had no clothing either, though they didn't need any because while they had the shape of a young woman they had none of the features. It was almost like they were just moving dolls...moving dolls with a hell of a lot of articulation as they swarmed four other girls in skirts of varying colors.

"They're droids." Usagi gulped in fright after the redhead put her down. There was so many of them, how were they supposed to fight that many? They could barely stop a single one at times, but this many? They were screwed, royally and utterly screwed.

"Stay here!' Reisha growled out as seeing a little girl being cornered by the strange creatures. Whatever they were, the redhead could tell that they weren't human, much less alive, which meant open season on the things for attacking innocent people. With a loud cry Reisha jumped down from the roof in front of the running child, swept the feet out from the group of people before scooping up the child and jumping away as the sailor suited girls cried out in shock as they had been working their way here as it was.

"I can't stay here." Usagi sighed, knowing that she had to help despite wanting to run away. More than her was at stake here which meant Sailor Moon had to make an entrance despite her wishes otherwise. Pulling off her locket she thrust it above her with a cry of, "Moon Crystal Power!"

"Where the hell were you?" Sailor Mars demanded as Sailor Moon dropped down to the street while hoping no one saw her change. She didn't have much of a choice though as she couldn't have gotten down without changing and if she didn't then people could be hurt.

"Don't talk to my friend like that!" Reisha snarled as she joined Sailor Moon.

"Sailor Mars shut up and stop acting like such a bitch!" Sailor Jupiter snapped angrily as she threw a ball of lightning at two of the white things knocking them back before one of them exploded into black dust. Sadly, the other one slowly stumbled back to its feet before stumbling back at them.

"Who are you?" Sailor Venus asked tiredly, her breath coming out in ragged pants. She had defeated the most of this group of monsters, and felt like she was going to collapse. It had been a challenging battle so far and the swarm of droids was not slowing down in the least.

"We can introduce ourselves when this is over." Ami said as she tapped furiously on her small computer that resembled a blue netbook with the symbol of Mercury on it.

"Fools!" A triumphant shout came from above them to reveal Rubeus and the four sisters surrounding the area on the rooftops in a circle above the horde of droids, enclosing them, the Sailor Senshi and Reisha. "Today you die and we take the Rabbit and the Crystal!"

"I'll never let you hurt her and if you try, I'll punish you in the name of the Moon!" Usagi called out, forgoing her usual speech against their enemies as she stood fast, the group of girls taking up stances almost back to back in a circle, facing outward towards the encroaching horde of droids. They may have been weak in comparison to the previous droids the Senshi had beaten, but this time they had numbers on their side, and things were beginning to look very bleak.

"Why so serious?" Asked another male voice before a blue trident slammed into the ground in the middle of a large cluster of the droids creating an explosion that engulfed the dark creatures while leaving the surrounding environment surprisingly intact. "Lighten up, your hero in silver is center stage ready to make a show of it!" A silver-clad man with a helmet covering his entire head and face landed next to the trident, retrieving it before striking a pose. "Gokai Silver is in the silver spotlight!"

"Destroy them all!" Rubeus shouted, the anger in his voice growing.

"Dead Scream," whispered a soft voice, the words echoing out across the battlefield, so quiet it should never have been heard and yet it carried eerily to all throughout the area. Another explosion from the opposite direction drew their attention to another gaping hole in the enemy forces, showing a new Sailor Senshi in a black and white fuku standing tall, holding a staff with key-like teeth on one end of the shaft, and a large crimson jewel enclosed in a heart on the other. "I am Sailor Pluto and I will not allow you to hurt my princess or my charge."

"Setsuna?" Reisha whispered to herself as she wondered what the hell was going on. She was used to the insane, the wacky, and the weird, but this was pushing things. Shoving her confused thoughts to the side for later, Reisha shot forward unleashing a chestnut fist on several of the droids shattering them into dust as dual cries of "Supreme Thunder!" and "Meteor Storm!" rang out before explosions and cried filled the air.

It took about fifteen minutes, but the group finally finished off the last of the droids, though it had cost them nearly all of their energy. They were all covered in scrapes and bruises, including Reisha as the group of monsters were weak and not very good at fighting, but their numbers were so overwhelming when compared to the small group that there had been quite a number of lucky hits. Even Reisha was unsure if she could take on the group of people still surrounding them atop the rooftops if they were as strong as the redhead was sensing.

"You! What did you do with the princesses?" The silver clad man demanded, pointing his trident up at Rubeus who simply laughed at the gesture.

"You think you scare me? Foolish boy!" Rubeus mocked.

"Let me kill him brother." Petz purred as she licked her lips while giving the silver man a once over.

"Over...my...dead...BODY!" An angry cry shouted from high above all of them as a ball of fire exploded into existence, a giant firebird taking shape with a red and gold clad woman in the center of the fiery inferno. "You Dark Moon rebellious scum have gone too far this time!"

"Shit...We can't fight her..." Koan whimpered, her voice wavering as fear clenched its icy hand around her heart. "This wasn't part of the plan."

"Prepare to be judged Mortals!" cried the voice, the words screeching out as though coming from both the woman and the fiery bird.

"What gives you the right to judge us? What gives your family the right to rule over anything?" Rubeus demanded, though there was little conviction in his voice.

"What gives me the right? You should be asking what gives US the right! We are a GODDESS! We are a swift DEATH unto Evil! Above all, WE…ARE…PHOENIX!" The floating woman cried with such anger that the flames that made up the bird surrounding her doubled in size.

"You can't just kill them, they can be healed! Darkness has possessed them to make them do the things they do!" Usagi cried out, tears falling as she didn't understand how she knew what she said but knowing it for fact, just needing to protect them, victims, from the anger of the vengeful woman in the sky.

'She's right kitten,' whispered a voice in the fiery woman's mind. 'I can sense the taint in them, the darkness enshrouding their pure hearts. Something is locking their true selves away while controlling their thoughts and actions.'

"If that is the case..." The woman sighed as the fire shrunk back down before blazing back up again, the wings engulfing the five members of the Dark Moon causing them to cry out in pain before collapsing on the roof.

"Why?" Usagi sobbed, almost collapsing before Reisha caught her, holding her close and crooning soft words to the distraught blond.

"The darkness has been purged from their system and they will awaken remembering nothing from their time of possession. I will return them to their own time after I finish my business here." The woman said as the fires quickly decreased in size as they barely covered her now. "Where is the girl, the Rabbit?"

"What do you want with her?" Sailor Mars demanded, her own anger fueling her and giving her the strength to face down this self-proclaimed Goddess who dared interfere with their business and then make demands of them.

"That is none of your concern mortal, just give her to me." The woman said angrily, but exhaustion could be heard through the voice as well.

"Or what, sounds as if your just as tired as us." Sailor Mars scoffed.

"I will be back for her and when I do no one will stand in my way!" The woman growled out before she disappeared in a flash of flames. The girls looked around to find not only the silver clad man now missing, but also Sailor Moon, her friend, and the new senshi.

"Where did Sailor Moon go?" Sailor Jupiter asked, shocked that they could have vanished so quickly.

**Emerald Kigo**

"There you are!" A man with medium length, messy auburn hair huffed as he dropped next to the redhead, who was back in normal clothing and leaning tiredly back against a bench in a park. She was loathe to admit it, but purifying those people had drained her of most of her strength. It worried her to do so, as she took the taint into herself, and without the dark crystal that the Death Phantom had stolen there was no place in this time period to safely dump it other than the sun.

Looking up she saw the excited young man, who even as tired as he looked was still so hyper, beaming at her like he had just won the lottery. Her right eye twitched when she looked him over, as despite her telling him to stop wearing the pinkish pants and ugly multi-colored jacket with a black and white scarf, the was dork still wearing them. She knew he only did it to get attention as well as make others underestimate him, but it also made it hard to take him seriously, even when he acted serious. "Gai," she sighed, "why'd you follow me you dork?"

"Because I love you, and I refuse to let you deal with this by yourself. Marvelous promised to look after the Moon and wait for your parents to get back to let them know what happened." Gai said as the redhead leaned over and kissed the boys cheek. "I'd give anything for you Princess."

"Because I'm a princess?" asked the redhead softly, though truthfully she already knew the answer. She just liked to hear it from him to reassure her of it. She may have acted strong and uncaring in front of the Senshi, but she had to act cold and aloof to throw any suspicion the others may have had of her. It wouldn't look good if she royally screwed up the time stream after all.

"Because you are Ranko, the girl I love." Gai said as he leaned over her, their lips so close together. "The woman I want to marry," Gai sighed as he kissed her deeply for a moment before breaking away with a perverted grin stretching across his face. "And you have a nice rack too."

"Wh-what?" Ranko spluttered, her face growing cherry red in embarrassment and anger. She tried to smack him upside the head only to hit air as he ducked her hand and ran from the bench. She jumped up to give chase while calling out indignantly, "Get back here you pervert!"

"Nyah, you can't catch me!" Gai called back as he kept dodging her, leading her on a chase around and through the park. She would wait for just a short while to worry about tracking down the little spore who caused this mess she was currently in, but until then she had a pervert to catch and punish…then maybe kiss, and of course probably punish again...The jerk really wasn't all that bad, he only acted like this when she was feeling down, as he was always able to make her smile and forget her troubles.

**Original Chapter Posted on April 12, 2012**

**Chapter Beta'd by Orchamus, thanks a lot for doing so and fixing my many mistakes while making the chapter better.**


	7. Chapter 7

"What the hell was that Usagi?" Reisha asked in shock as she roof hopped several blocks away from the scene of what just happened with the blonde girl in her arms bridal style. Usagi may have been taller, but Reisha was still much stronger than her friend who was spluttering out some nonsense while acting as if she wasn't Usagi.

"Those people were after a small child, thank you for helping stop them miss..." Usagi said nervously.

"You know who I am, Usagi." Reisha said while looking down at familiar blue eyes as the wind whipped against their faces before coming to a stop on top of a building and dropping down into a shadowed alleyway, setting the taller girl down onto her feet.

"I'm not Usagi, miss...my name is Sailor Moon, I'm the champion of love and justice!" The self-proclaimed champion announced, taking a funny looking pose.

"I don't know who you think you're fooling, Usagi, but a quick change of clothes isn't going to fool me." Reisha sighed sadly while turning away from the blonde. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"What? No!" Usagi cried out grabbing the redhead's shoulder to turn her around. "You can really see who I am?" After the redhead slowly nodded with an incredulous look, Usagi sighed and continued. "No one is supposed to be able to see me like this, there's magic that...How do I explain this? I'm not smart like Ami, it's hard for me to explain this kind of stuff."

"From what I've seen, you are pretty smart Usagi. You just don't give yourself enough credit." Reisha said encouragingly, which earned her a bit of a smile.

"Thanks, Reisha. I guess, well, there is supposed be this magic that hides what we look like. It like, makes people not to want to look at our faces or focus on our identity." Usagi said letting her transformation drop, her outfit dissolving into red ribbons that retracted into the locket on her school uniform.

"I can see you though," Reissha objected, "I could easily see those girls from school too, the ones that were bothering you, plus some black haired girl. You're all magical girls of some kind? What's going on, Usagi?" Reisha sighed, worry filling her voice. From one trouble to another, but looking at the blonde the redhead couldn't help thinking that Usagi would be worth it.

"Tomorrow, please just give me until tomorrow and I'll explain everything." Usagi pleaded, averting her gaze from Reisha.

"I'll hold you to that." Reisha said with a lopsided grin.

**Emerald Kigo**

A short time later Reisha entered the kitchen back at her home to find Setsuna busily preparing their evening meal, along with plenty extra for their new house guests. With a quick splash of water, Ranma was back and standing before his adopted mother while trying to decide what to say.

"I guess it's too much to ask that you didn't see me earlier?" Setsuna sighed as she stirred the food on the stove. "You were always able to see through illusions, even better than your old father."

"Genma? He couldn't see what's right in front of his nose." Ranma snorted.

"No dear, your father from your previous life." Setsuna said, resigned to explaining some of this earlier than she wanted. She wanted to make sure that Ranma, as well as Michiru and Haruka, knew that Setsuna cared for them, for who they are now, not who they once were. True, there were parts of their old selves in each of them, but they were all their own people, just as Usagi and the other inners.

"Why do I feel like this is going to be a serious headache?" Ranma grumbled while rubbing his temples.

"Ranma, I wanted to wait a bit longer before revealing all of this to you. I need you to understand that while I do miss your old self, your previous life, I love you as you are. You are my son and daughter, and I wouldn't trade that for anything." Setsuna said as she kissed Ranma's forehead while turning the heat down on the stove.

"So, what, we knew each other in a past life or something?" Ranma asked, arching an eyebrow. After everything he had been through in his life, this didn't even rate very high on his weirdness scale. He was worried about what the explanation would be for it was as though a cold lump had formed in the pit of his stomach.

"How much did Usagi tell you?" Setsuna asked.

"She said she would answer all my questions tomorrow." Ranma said.

"Bring her here and I'll explain everything to you."

Ranma lay in his bed after dinner, staring up at the ceiling in his room while wondering what the hell he managed to get himself into. From super powered martial arts duels to magical girls fighting monsters was not a direction he honestly wanted to take, but seeing as his new friend and adoptive mother were two of said girls, it would be kind of hard to ignore it all and stick his head in the ground. Usagi, of course, had been shocked that he could see pass some kind of field that was supposed to disguise them, but Ranma just did not see it. He could clearly see the girls, the ones that Usagi wanted to avoid, Usagi herself, and even Setsuna.

**Emerald Kigo**

Flames were covering everything in the room, the heat licking her body yet not hurting her in the least. In fact the flames weren't even consuming any of the furniture or walls despite burning so brightly. Reisha looked up as she felt something, a presence in the room with her as some of the fire formed into two large eyes.

"Greetings child, I am the mother of the Phoenix..." A voice said in the redhead's mind making her eyes go wide. The voice seemed so familiar to her, but it held so much love and compassion, along with great strength and pride that seemed to resonate within the redhead.

**Emerald Kigo**

"There is an attack from the rebel's princess!" A woman wearing a skintight green outfit with golden boots and gloves with a phoenix symbol emblazoned across her chest cried as she burst into Chibi-Usa's bed chambers where an older woman with red hair was sitting on the bed brushing the younger girl's pink hair.

"Damn them, they planned this attack to happen while the Queen and King was gone!" Ranko, the red haried woman growled as the younger girl shivered from the power and anger radiating from the woman holding a brush. "Rabbit, stay here!"

"I can help!' Chibi-Usa said as the red head climbed to her feet, shooting a glare back at Chibi as her clothing rippled to reveal a red version of the other woman's suit. Two more women burst into the room also wearing identical red suits.

"No, you will stay here where it is safe while I go deal with this scum. I'm in charge and I expect you to listen to me without arguing." Ranko ordered, "Are the Gokaigers still nearby?"

"Yes my lady, your boyfriend already let us know that they are heading straight here." One of the two new arrivals said as Ranko stormed out of the room.

"I can deal with the scum...but just in case it will be good to have them here." Ranko's voice floated back before the doors were slammed shut. Jumping to her feet after the room shook for several moments, Chibi-Usa hesitated before heading for the door.

Not wanting to be useless anymore, needing to prove that she could protect her kingdom as the heir, Chibi-Usa stumbled out of the room. Hurrying down the palace chambers, weaving between several rushing women and a few men the young girl made her way to the heart of the palace. It was where the Silver Crystal was kept to feed its energy into the Moon to keep its ecosystem and atmosphere stable until the damage was completely healed to the point of self-sustainment. Quietly, yet urgently, Chibi-Usa pushed her way into the chamber and made her way to the alter, where the crystal hovered in a pillar of light.

She knew that the moon would be fine for at least thirty days without the crystal, so a few minutes to help stave off the invasion wouldn't hurt. She intended to show that she could take care of both her people and herself, so she reached out to take the crystal. Before she could grip it in her hands there was a bright flash forcing her to shut her eyes. Upon opening them again she gasped in fright as the crystal was gone, nowhere to be seen.

Gasping, Chibi-Usa sat up in bed next to Ikuko. Taking several breaths she remembered where she was and realized that things were getting more and more out of control. She came back to fetch the crystal of this time to replace the one in the future until she could figure out what happened to the other. The problem was, she couldn't really tell anyone why she needed it, but she needed to find it fast and Usagi wasn't helping much.

**Emerald Kigo**

Across the city there was another figure dreaming, but unlike the younger girl's dreams of the past this girl was dreaming of her fears. She was kneeling in a palace's throne room where two regal figures, the King and Queen, sat upon the thrones, Chibi-Usa sitting in the Queen's lap.

"You disgust us." The king said, a sneer slipping across his lips. "You aren't fit to be a princess, much less heir."

"How you could be my daughter, I have no idea." The Queen said, her voice cold and harsh. "Your uncouth, violent and everything royalty should never be."

"I should have never allowed you to inherit and bond with the Goddess, you couldn't even bond with one of the Symbiotic Phoenix Shards so how could you even deserve the honor of being the vessel of the Goddess." The King said as he came to his feet, stomping over to the kneeling redhead who shook in fear of her parents. The king raised his hand before backhanding the redhead to skid across the floor several feet. She tried to call upon the Phoenix to help her escape, but heard and felt nothing. "I can't even believe you are my daughter!"

"Papa." The redhead sobbed before being kicked hard in the stomach launching her across the throne room.

"You are pathetic. You aren't worth being my heir in the art, much less the heir to my powers!" The King growled angrily. "You are nothing but a filthy little piece of shit!"

"Babe...Wake up." A voice broke into the torrent of hateful words, but she couldn't see where it was coming from. Groaning, tears leaking from her eyes she looked up at her father to find him gone, replaced by the dark, shrouded form of the Death Phantom who was chuckling darkly. "WAKE UP!"

"GAAAHHHH!" Ranko cried out, bolting up into a sitting position while knocking Gai over in the process. She didn't care that she was in her night gown, which didn't hide much while accentuating what little it did hide, as he grumbled from the floor.

"Damn it, that hurt princess!" Gai grumbled while rubbing his head.

"S-Sorry." Ranko mumbled while looking down at her future husband, a small smile forming on her lips covering up the pain she felt from the dream. In her mind she knew that it didn't happen and never would as both of her parents loved her very much. It was true she wasn't the heir to the throne, nor was she suitable, but that wasn't a bad thing. She had more freedom while at the same time being heir to both of her father's legacies...the heir to one of the world's premiere schools of martial arts and the vessel for the most powerful being in the universe.

"Don't worry, princess." Gai grumbled as he climbed to sit on the edge of the bed while taking her hand. "Ranko, you were having a nightmare, a terrible one. You were even crying in your sleep! What's wrong babe?"

"I think it's just stress." Ranko sighed while doubting that was exactly what was wrong. She could feel the darkness that she absorbed earlier swirling inside of her. Unlike the Silver Crystal, she couldn't just banish the darkness. Instead, she took it upon herself and discharged it into the Dark Crystal that was recently stolen when the assault on the palace took place. Of course she could go to the sun and bath in the energies at the center of it while cleansing her body of any foreign matter including any evil that she took upon herself. It would just take up too much time, and she didn't have a lot to spare.

"You sure you don't know where they live in this time?" Gai asked softly while brushing the locks of hair from the redhead's eyes.

"No, only one I know how to find is Lady Rei and frankly I don't think I can stand dealing with her in this time." Ranko sighed. She heard the stories of how much of a bitch the Senshi and princess of Mars was before and it was something Ranko couldn't deal with, especially with the dark energies making her a little more unstable than usual. Yes she could be a little violent to people who pissed her off, but at the moment she was afraid she would seriously hurt Rei if the girl talked bad about the redhead's family.

"I have a few ideas that may help find them." Gai said with a smirk that Ranko was unsure if she liked it or not.

**Original Chapter Posted on April 29, 2012**

**Chapter Beta'd by Orchamus, thanks a lot for doing so and fixing my many mistakes while making the chapter better.**


End file.
